But employers in KwaZulu-Natal are adamant that they have no intention of complying.
"If the bargaining council wants to close our factories, be my guest. It will bring the sector to a complete standstill," United Clothing and Textile Association chairman Ahmed Paruk said.
The association's members employ about 28000 clothing and textile workers, mostly in factories in KwaZulu-Natal.
Between 1 July 2007 and 30 June last year, 18300 jobs were lost in the clothing sector. The rate of job losses has slowed, with 10143 jobs lost last year, a 30% decline on the 14516 job losses in 2009.
The minimum wage for a machinist in a non-metro area is less than R2000 a month, but many employers complain that they cannot remain competitive if they pay such wages.
The bargaining council gave small factories 15 months to be fully compliant or have their assets seized for not paying minimum wages and council levies.
The South African Clothing and Textile Workers Union's deputy general secretary, Wayne van der Rheede, on Tuesday, 29 March, said a full assessment of noncompliant firms would be made after inspections, possibly by next month.
Bargaining council compliance officer Leon Deetlefs said about 471 factories, employing about 18000 workers, or 18% of the industry workforce, may be issued with writs of execution.
Paruk said most of his association's members, about 300 companies, could not comply with the deadline.
An agreement for the industry concluded at the bargaining council in November last year allowed noncompliant companies to phase in up to 70% of the minimum wage by 1 April. By January next year they would have to be 90% compliant, and 100% by April.
By December last year, 103 noncompliant companies had agreed to the phase-in plan, clothing manufacturing industry consultant Renato Palmi said.
Van der Rheede said noncompliance had been an issue for 10 years and some companies could comply with minimum wages. Noncompliant companies were undercutting companies in the market that did pay proper wages, he said.
Paruk said his association had held an "informal" meeting with the union and the bargaining council last week, but the union did not accept its proposal for a wage structure similar to the leather industry's.
Alf Lees, Democratic Alliance National Council of Provinces member for KwaZulu-Natal, said thousands of lowly paid jobs were likely to be lost in Newcastle if clothing factories closed due to noncompliance with the bargaining council. He warned there was "a very good chance" the industrialists would relocate to Botswana or Lesotho, where production costs were lower.
Lees said a tour of clothing factories in Newcastle some months ago showed they provided work for the "desperately poor". While workers said they would have liked to earn more money, they could not contemplate losing their jobs because unemployment was high.
Source: Business Day
For more than two decades, I-Net Bridge has been one of South Africa’s preferred electronic providers of innovative solutions, data of the highest calibre, reliable platforms and excellent supporting systems. Our products include workstations, web applications and data feeds packaged with in-depth news and powerful analytical tools empowering clients to make meaningful decisions.
We pride ourselves on our wide variety of in-house skills, encompassing multiple platforms and applications. These skills enable us to not only function as a first class facility, but also design, implement and support all our client needs at a level that confirms I-Net Bridge a leader in its field.
Go to: http://www.inet.co.za
